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Post by Admin on Jul 27, 2019 17:38:26 GMT
Police in the Russian capital Moscow have detained some 300 people at an unauthorised protest against the exclusion of many opposition candidates from forthcoming local elections. Protesters were dragged away from the city hall while others were corralled into nearby streets. Some of the barred prospective candidates were detained earlier as police carried out searches. Last Saturday, more than 20,000 Russians took to the streets, demanding fair elections, and dozens were arrested. It is unclear how many people turned up for the new unauthorised rally on 27 July but the numbers seem to have been sharply down.
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Post by Admin on Aug 11, 2019 17:40:15 GMT
Tens of thousands have attended Moscow's largest opposition rally since 2011, independent monitors say. Up to 60,000 people reportedly gathered in the rain to demand fair elections. The protest was officially authorised but dozens of people were arrested as they moved to other parts of the city, many outside President Vladimir Putin's offices in the city centre. Unauthorised rallies on the last two Saturdays saw hundreds detained. This is the fifth demonstration in a month. Many Muscovites are unhappy that opposition candidates have been banned from running in municipal elections in September, but anger has increased after apparent incidences of police brutality in previous weeks.
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Post by Admin on Aug 13, 2019 17:40:40 GMT
On August 10, opposition supporters held a mass protests in the Russian capital, Moscow, for the fifth consecutive weekend. The current wave of protests was triggered by the decision of the electoral commission to disqualify opposition candidates from running in the elections for the Moscow City Duma, a powerless legislative body that rubber stamps Mayor Sergey Sobianin's policies. While organisers of the previous two demonstrations were not able to obtain official permits from the municipality to hold them, which resulted in a mass crackdown, this Saturday, the demonstration was authorised and attracted a large crowd of between 50,000 and 60,000 people. That made it the second-largest rally since the height of the 2011-2012 Bolotnaya protests which were triggered by the rigged Duma election in December 2011. It was in reaction to those enormous demonstrations that President Vladimir Putin took an extremely harsh stance on the Maidan revolution in Ukraine, eventually occupying Crimea and starting a war in eastern Ukraine. For several years, it seemed that he had succeeded in outsourcing domestic political confrontation to the neighbouring country. His popularity ratings soared, while the opposition appeared divided and marginalised. It is quite symbolic that when tens of thousands poured into the streets of Moscow on Saturday, Putin chose to be in Crimea, still holding on to the legitimacy it gave him five years ago. But the nationalistic fervour over the annexation of the peninsula has worn off by now and the president appears to be back at square one. Today, his approval ratings are back to what they were in the early 2010s, while the opposition has managed to regroup and is once again capable of mobilising people for large rallies.
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Post by Admin on Aug 14, 2019 20:35:46 GMT
Tens of thousands of people protested in Moscow on Saturday, marking the fifth weekend people have rallied in the Russian city to demand fair elections. The demonstrations began in July after election officials barred opposition candidates from running for the Moscow city council, disqualifying their ballots because of what officials claimed were irregularities in the 5,000 signatures each had to gather to run. That decision — to block the opposition from participating — turned a sleepy municipal election into a political controversy that intensified amid police crackdowns against demonstrators and opposition figures. Saturday’s rally in Moscow was the largest yet, and one of the biggest political protests in Russia in years. Estimates put the crowds at about 50,000, although authorities suggested the official number was closer to 20,000. The rally was sanctioned — meaning people had a permit to protest — although police reportedly arrested about 200 people. Russians in other cities, including St. Petersburg, also joined in on the demonstrations, a sign that the unrest and dissatisfaction may extend beyond Moscow.
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